School Carnival in the Spring

Mario Time.

My kids love to play Mario Kart.  They were introduced to Mario on one of our trips to Utah.  My parents had purchased a Wii.  Since our last trip the boys have seriously loved playing Mario.  They love to pick their characters; Luigi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Yoshi and Mario are among their favorites.  They know their every move and can quote the characters.
My favorite part of this is that we don't own a Wii but they love to play it.  They act it out on their scooters and tricycles.  They race each other around the sidewalk and drive way or on a cement pad in our back yard.  Then once the lap is finished they go up on the stand and do a victory dance; moving their arms side to side.  I wondered why Lincoln was hitting his head with his fists one day and when I asked he said "I'm Donkey Kong and I lost."  Then he pulled out a sad face.

Swimming Lessons

May 2013

Lincoln took five swimming lessons.  We went to Donna's Dolphins because of a Groupon that we had purchased for $50.  This place was really cool and I liked their system but if we didn't have the Groupon it would be expensive.  Lincoln was incredibly shy/nervous; it was hard to tell why he didn't want to get in the water.  Once we pretty much threw him in he had a great time and he trusted his instructors.  He had a couple of really great instructors but I think Lincoln needed consistency.  His favorite instructor that he had twice was Jade.  I wish Lincoln could have learned more in his time there.  Here are a few pictures from his swimming lessons.  Great job Lincoln, you did awesome! 

Oh I forgot to mention he was practically refusing to do lessons by the second or third time so we needed to bribe him with a trip to Chuck-e-Cheese if he would get in the water willingly and do his swim lessons.  He loved it.  

 Jade is the instructor helping someone else, Linc is on the sidelines waiting his turn.

 This was about the third or fourth lesson.  I love his happiness.

I thought I had pictures of his last day with Jade, this is a reminder for me to find them.

A Bit of our June Utah Trip

We purchased our house and a week later we were off to Utah to have some fun.  Parts of our trip included going to the Combe cabin which is always so much fun. I am hoping to one day post more pictures but as for now this is all I have from our trip.  We went up to Yellowstone for a nice beautiful drive.  We even had a near whole family photo except that my dad wasn't with us at the time.  Too bad.  We visited with Willie's parents.  This time we had a work-ation where we helped his mom move some things around in her new house.  It was great to help her out as long as someone watched my kids I was okay.  We attended three temples in three days.  I love going to the temple and what fun it is to go to so many in such a short time.  We visited Logan, Salt Lake and Brigham.  I'm glad I could go with my sister to the temple as well.  I have always been so happy that she decided to go to the temple.  Willie's dad was sealed to his wife while we were there too.  

In my home town we did some miniature golfing, parades, family reunion and some golfing.  How could we go to Utah without golfing?  Anyway here are just a couple of pictures from our trip.  More to follow one day. :)

Our First Zoo Trip

April 25, 2013

Our Christmas present was used to get a season pass to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  I will say that it is steep!  Wow, you really can get a work out going up the hills.  It was pretty cool though to see how many giraffe's they had.  One was just a baby.  So cute.  We picked a busy day and had to get bused in.  The weather was a little chilly but we did have fun.

Parker was a brave kid and reached out to touch these gentle giants.  You can feed the giraffes for $2.  In comparison to Atlanta I would have to say I like Atlanta more.  Maybe it's because there are more exotic type animals.  One of my favorite animals in Cheyenne Mountain zoo is the Moose.  The lions are huge and majestic.

A little playground to play at.

On our way out the kids had a race in the strollers.  We had fun running down the hills.  All in all it was a good time and we look forward to more days at the zoo.

A Bit of Life

Spring 2013

Life does happen and sometimes it can get messy.  It's always fun though.  Here are a few pictures from sometime in the spring. :)

Willie with his two students working on a Masters.  Roxanne and Nathan.

Where Have We Been?

July 7, 2013

It seems as if we have been on  a roller coaster for the last year of our lives.  We had a baby, Willie graduated, we moved across country, Parker started school, we visited Utah (a lot), we were sick for a month straight, and then we saw Spring.  We thought we weren't busy enough so we started looking to stay in Colorado Springs a little longer.  After doing some research and looking around we decided to buy a home.  Our very first purchased (loaned) home.  We rent no more.  This photo was taken the first day we went to look at it.  

We have kept busy by going through the process of buying a home in a months time, packing, cleaning, going to Utah yet again and then coming back to Colorado to move our things (pretty much by ourselves this time) in a weeks time.  After all of the busyness I have become sick.  Our new home was a good deal and because it was such a good deal there will be a lot to work on; but who can buy a home that doesn't need to be worked on?  So when I'm done being sick and we've moved our things in and we've had a few repairs done then I will begin posting again; trying to catch up.